Onset
by Aiko Isari
Summary: fluff!AU. Post-StrikerS, pre-Vivid. The little girl they found in the cold with only bad memories and barely a name deserved to know about the warmth of not being alone. She deserved to celebrate it too.
1. Blanket

_**A/N:** _Hello everyone! This really isn't too much about Christmas, but it _is _about family and would technically take place during December. Crossover fun, AU, to anybody who has read the comics as well as seen the animated series, this is kind of me taking a few liberties here. Nothing too extreme. Will Raven remain the same as canon? yes, and no. Complicated, I know. Also, she is eight, a year older than Vivio herself. Again, more liberties. I love those! Canon knowledge is not really required to understand the references, as they will be mentioned and expanded upon for the most part.

All that said, read, review, and enjoy!

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1- Blanket

"Vivio! I don't think staring at her will wake her up any sooner."

The girl turned at her mother's voice from the kitchen, looking away from the sleeping child. "But _Mama_, you can't celebrate Christmas if you're sleeping!"

Takamachi Nanoha giggled as only a young woman could. That was true. She had made this very same point to Fate on their first _non-violent _Christmas together. (She loved Hayate to bits, but that incident had put a real damper on holiday spirit even with the party.) "Can't celebrate it when you're grumpy, either," she reasoned instead, resolving not to tell her newly-official daughter that. "Besides, she was out in the cold. I wouldn't want to be awake right now either. So come on, let her sleep and help me with these cookies. After all, Fate-chan is going to need a perk-up after work today!"

Vivio quietly pumped a fist in agreement, rising from her stool and moving away. Perhaps the smell of sugar would wake her up. She probably needed to wake up soon, but she was too cold to wake up.

Her face was grey and solemn in sleep, Vivio noticed. She was too still there, breathing too quietly and almost invisible under the blanket. It was scary.

Maybe she was scared.

Vivio understood fear.

"Vivio!"

She turned, ready to go to her, but the sleeper made a noise. Vivio squeaked. "Mama!" The sleeper shifted, moaning again. Her face scrunched as it tried to defy waking up, but by the time Nanoha arrived in the room, her eyes were beginning to open. Nanoha couldn't help the smile on her face. The girl was naturally startled. She had been unconscious and half-frozen after all.

Slowly, the girl drew herself up under the blanket. She didn't look threatening, but her face was trying to keep itself frozen in a blank expression. Her eyes, to Nanoha's delight, were a complete giveaway, much like Fate's had been. Granted, there wasn't much to give, other than bewilderment, but the Ace of Aces would take what she could get.

"Nice to see you awake," she said, sitting down on Vivio's vacated stool. Her daughter remained standing, but she shifted from heel to toe, struggling to contain the bursting energy that had been running through her system since her birthday. She was happy to see her daughter's courage, especially considering this child seemed very close to tears. Or that she needed to be. The unnamed girl looked at her, purple eyes seeming to see something that wasn't visible. In a way, she seemed less like Fate, but more like Lutecia, according to reports. "How are you feeling?"

For a moment, the girl seemed not to know what she was saying. Then she looked down, a rather quick avoiding of the eyes, and said simply. "Cold."

"Well, if you said you were warm, I'd be worried," Nanoha commented, making sure to prevent Vivio from jumping in and babbling, as was her wont when she was excited or curious. Nanoha didn't know _where _that came from. Nope, not her. "Would you like some tea?"

The girl nodded, expression perking minutely at the sound of the word _tea_, and drew the blankets around her more tightly. Vivio, uninhibited by her mother, jumped in, making sure the woman was going to get a warm cup. "You were outside in the cold for ages," she said, looking as wide-eyed as the nameless new friend. Or family, probably family. They had a big family anyway. It wouldn't be so bad. "You were up against a bus stop. It was good that it wasn't snowing! Why were you there?"

The girl blinked, tilting her head. She seemed to be trying to process what Vivio was saying, and then shook her head. She didn't know, didn't remember.

"Vivio, stop that," her mother scolded as she returned to the room, carrying a tea mug and a couple of bowls.. "Remember when I found you? All those questions would have given you a headache."

The girl flushed. "Oops." Then she frowned. "But, Nanoha-mama," she began, as though a new thought had just occurred to her. "What if someone's looking for her?"

Nanoha tilted her red head, frowning in a perfect imitation of her daughter. "I suppose that's true."

"Nobody's looking for me," the girl said, and then her mouth shut with a nearly audible click. Her eyes had widened with horror and then were squeezed shut. The teacup began to crack, but then stopped and the girl drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping the blanket around herself. She didn't move for a few moments, and Nanoha and Vivio looked at each other. Vivio had only a limited understanding of what was going on. She knew plenty of sad people, after all.

However, Nanoha had a very, very raw understanding, and on the inside, rage was bubbling hot in her throat. The girl was shying back, though, and that was odd. Despite that, Nanoha reached out a hand anyway. The girl flinched and Vivio almost leaned to stop her movement, but instead, Nanoha gently patted the short, purple hairs that stuck from under the blanket.

"It's all right," she said gently. "You can stay there if you want. It's nice and warm after all." The eyes peeked out from behind the safety of the white fabric and Nanoha counted this as a step in the right direction. "I'm going to go get another cup," she declared. "I set this one down too hard." She stood and left, smiling and humming a little tune.

Vivio watched her go before turning back to the silent cocoon. "That was cool," she informed her, sitting in the space vacated by the girl's legs. "I usually have to punch something before I can do that. You must have lots of magic."

"... Yeah." Vivio couldn't see the other's face but there was something in those eyes, something sad.

Vivio decided not to press, and instead placed her own small hand on the edge of the blanket, the barrier. "My name is Takamachi Vivio," she informed her with little-kid solemnity. "Who are you?"

"A demon."

Vivio merely nodded at this. "I'm a clone," she said, smiling. "But what's your name?"

"... You care?"

She sounded surprised and that made Vivio a little sad. Not discouraged exactly, but sad. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

The other girl blinked. Had she never thought of it before? She was like Lutecia, so _so _much! For a moment, she seemed to mull it over, as though she had rarely ever heard her name spoken. Then, she decided it was worth it and nodded. "Raven," she said. "I was never given a last name. No one was."

"Ooh." Vivio was curious now, but in the back of her mind, a more pressing question arose. "Can I call you Rae?"

Raven blinked, and her grey skin flushed a faint pink. "Yes..."

"Yay!" Satisfied, Vivio hopped up to sit fully on the couch."Nanoha-mama is baking cookies for Fate-mama. Want to help?"

Rae nodded again, and when Vivio extracted the blanket from around her arms, she didn't resist.

"Mama!" Vivio called. "Rae-chan's going to help too!"

She heard her mother giggle. "Well, I'll be out there in a minute, then."


	2. Baking

_**A/N:** _Well, um, hi! I didn't expect this to get attention. It's just an odd little story. Expect a little OOCness. I interpret Raven a little awkwardly right now, and also she's a small child. How AU is this? Well... we'll get there... maybe. Not sure it matters yet. And kory, I don't know if there will be much of any fanservice here, just really uberclose friendship because NanoFate is flipping everywhere in the series.

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2-Baking

The living room was a mess, but Miss Nanoha didn't seem to mind. She didn't seem to be angry about anything to do with her, so Raven kept her questions to herself.

Raven knew something was bothering Miss Nanoha. Her aura seemed erratic, like it was trying to do something but only succeeded in making her stomach squirm. Poor Miss Nanoha. She wanted to be nice, she supposed, but to be nice to demons was dangerous. They could hurt people real easy. And she had already cracked something.

But was that the problem? Because she couldn't be nice? True, her daughter being a demon had never stopped her mother from being nice, but far away, but that was more out of obligation than anything else, she had thought. Wasn't it? Be nice because she's your daughter and then she won't set the chapel on fire?

That didn't seem to be the case with Miss Nanoha. She seemed to be trying to be nice for the sake of being nice. So was Vivio, but Vivio was small, like Raven herself, and probably didn't know any better.

Though a lot of her denied it, she hoped Vivio would never know better.

"Ooh, Rae-chan that one came out great!"

She flushed, and then winced at her own embarrassment. She shouldn't be getting so emotional over that. It was just praise and just Vivio being happy.

But it made her happy, and… why did it do that?

There was a soft whoosh near her ear and Raven flinched, looking up to see a red jewel floating just by her right ear. [Hello] it said, glowing as the mechanical female voice resounded. Raven felt the tight reins on her control slip and power lashed out towards the jewel-

Only for it to pass harmlessly through it and vanish.

"Raising Heart!" Vivio cried, either having not noticed or not worried. "You startled her!"

[My apologies.]

Raven wanted to say something, but what was she supposed to say? There were very few gems in her old home that actually did anything without prompting, and were as such under the labeling 'very dangerous', like her.

"Um…"

"That's Raising Heart," Vivio supplied, seeing her mother entering the room and waving a small hand at the bauble. "We have Magical Devices to channel our power into here. Raising Heart belongs to Mama."

[That's right.]

The girl nodded, wondering if Vivio needed to draw breath when she talked. Deciding that, since there were little bursts of happiness coming from her body, she likely didn't. Slowly, she reached to touch the red jewel with her finger. "It's warm," she noted.

[That is because of the magic you gave me. You have potential to be a User.]

Raven mentally filed those words away under "confusing terminology" as Miss Nanoha returned to the room. "It looks like my partner's taken a liking to you," she said, smiling. These two smiled very easily. Everyone warned her against that at home… which this place was not. Maybe it was a dream.

No, if it was a dream. If it was, her father would have destroyed it by now and made her cry and scream and break things. She hated to dream.

She quietly pressed the cookie cutter down once more and nodded at the redheaded woman. Her smile only softened and Raven hid a flinch.

Somehow, the fact that she thought it was real made it so much worse.

"Neh, Rae-chan, would it be all right if we took you to get your magic examined soon?"

Raven looked up. Mild suspicion rose in the back of her mind. People never asked her things. They told her to do them, or _bad things would happen_. Or was she remembering incorrectly?"Why would you do that?"

Nanoha hummed. "Well, when I found out about magic, apparently I made a bang." Vivio giggled. "And you seem to have pretty good control-"

_No I don't, _she thought.

"But, if the Bureau gets it looked at, we can take measures to help you live normally, without overstraining yourself."

Raven dropped the cookie cutter, not even able to wince at the thump it made on the carpet. The part of her expecting Azar's scoldings reproached her for such easy slips of control but the rest was in deep shock. "Normal?" she repeated.

Nanoha did not laugh, and she wasn't sure if that made things better or worse. "Of course!"

"Yep!" Vivio smiled and somehow that brought her heartbeat down. "I have to get checked out once in a while to make sure my magic levels and physical health are okay. It really doesn't hurt a bit! And the sisters at the Church are so nice!"

Raven wanted to ask if they were like Azar… or like the kind mother who visited her once in a while. She would guess, if they treated them with high regard, they were like neither, but she doubted they knew who Azar was anyway, or where Azarath was.

But all of that was less important than the earlier words. "I… could live normally? Without…" Without always meditating and being mocked for it? Without having to sit by herself on benches and watch everyone else live? Without people flinching every time they saw her face?

"Yes," Nanoha assured. "And within our family, if you would like."

She didn't know why she was crying.


	3. Hope

_**A/N:** _Sorry for this not being up yesterday. Still writing number four. Anyway, hope everyone enjoys. And let me know if anybody is too out of character. Read and review my friends!

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3-Hope

Fate didn't know what to think, really.

Nanoha had sounded calm on the video message, but whenever her eye twitched and her grip started cracking the ceramic tea cups, there was a problem.

They had a guest, and Fate could only surmise that their circumstances were... less than stellar.

Fate smiled to herself. Well. Nothing she couldn't handle. Hopefully after some dinner and a bath, she could sit the guest down and talk.

… Nothing like Nanoha's idea of talking of course. Goodness, no.

"I'm home!" _At least for a few days._It was the only bad thing about being an Agent, her insane schedule was not fun to deal with during a crisis. It was a bit hard to get used to.

Fate shook off these thoughts as Vivio came out to greet her. Her goddaughter tugged at a small, greyish hand to follow her and the other girl was pliant, if puzzled. There was a faint splotchy tone to her skin by the eyes. A small smile rose to Fate's lips.

Already, she was thinking of Caro. She would have to talk to those children of hers.

"Welcome home, Fate-mama!" Vivio chirped, running to hug at her other mother's waist. The other girl watched, quietly using the wall to hold her up. Fate smiled and mussed her hair.

"I'm back, Vivio," she hummed, giving the girl inches away a glance of her own. "Neh… what's your name?"

"She's Rae-chan!" Vivio chimed before the girl could think of answering and Fate tutted with amusement. Vivio was really picking up her own self, which was nice, but in this case…

"Vivio, let her talk." Vivio flushed and apologized, earning a chuckle in return. She moved to kneel in front of the other girl. Rae stepped back a little, looking at first glance, unreadable. She saw her expression waver, however, and offered a hand to shake. "My name is Fate, Fate Testarossa Harlaown. So you're called Rae?"

The girl hesitated again before nodding. "Raven," she eventually corrected, instantly flushing pink. Then she paused. "Is it different? Having another name?"

Fate blinked, contemplating the question. At first glance, an odd question, at second, well… not really. So she shook her head."No, it just gets confusing to hear Harlaown when one of my family is in the same room." Raven nodded, turning this in her mind. Fate ushered Vivio out to her mother. Private conversations did need to be private after all. "So… how did you get here?"

Raven blinked at her, expression turning to a wall that she recognized from her own young face, once upon a time. "Someone threw me out here through a tunnel, a very colorful tunnel." The frown on her face deepened, and Fate recognized the logic running through her young mind. It would be better to give them as much information as possible, to think of excellent solutions. That was how Linith had taught her to think, and it was likely whoever had taught her to make a face like that, had schooled her in that way as well.

"And?" She coaxed, deciding to ponder the reasoning and implications of it at another time. None of these tidbits of information were said out of trust, but of pragmatic risk-taking. No matter how much she and Nanoha had spent their youth blasting people to get them to listen, there was no substitution to a therapist.

Nor was murdering whoever was responsible. She hoped she didn't have to convince Nanoha out of that one.

The girl placed a hand to her chest. "There was a lot of pain here during it because…" Now she was shifting, a small change of her stance to one ready for movement out of the room to safer territory, likely under a blanket. "Because it forced something away from me that had been there forever… I believe."

Fate smiled and nodded. To be honest, she was mildly put-off by the going's-on. There was much less emotion than she was used to dealing with from small children. Even in the case of Erio, it was more of a lot of repressed anger and in Caro, a sense of self-fear and worthlessness. According to them, what afflicted Lutecia was loneliness.

She did wonder what affected this child.

The girl waited, thinking, puzzling her out perhaps. Then she nodded to herself. "Then… I don't remember. I woke up on the ground and went to the closest light I could find, and fell asleep again." She made a movement like a shrug and Fate smiled.

"You remember quite a bit for being so young."

The girl almost flushed, almost. Fate smiled. "What are they doing in there?" She gestured to the other room, where the smell of dough was rather strong.

"Making cookies," was the prompt reply. Her mouth remained closed after that and then Fate offered her hand, wearing a mildly mischievous smile.

"Eating the dough too, I bet. Shall we go stop them?"

Raven didn't take the hand, but she did nod, and that was a start. Fate took a few steps toward the living room when thegirl suddenly began, "Miss Fate?"

The woman made a mental note to not laugh, as she was only twenty and the term "miss" was probably barely suited to _Signum_, let alone her, and turned back. "Yes?"

"Miss Nanoha-" And she really _had_to stifle her giggles now. "Said that the doctors could help me be normal." The purple eyes that looked at her reminded her very much of those crying sessions in her mother's arms, telling her of how strange she felt around the other human beings even with Nanoha and Hayate as her treasured friends.

It would be so easy to say yes, let the adults handle it -because she was an adult, now wasn't she?- but it wouldn't be all of the truth. Lying wouldn't reflect well on her, or on anyone involved either.

So she walked back over and knelt there. "I can say this. They can try and they will likely succeed, but… being normal is something up to you. You will need to figure out your definition of that. And, if you want, we'll help you too."

She wasn't sure if this would really do anything to allay the girl's fears, but to bring hope was something she had to try.

Everyone needed hope.


	4. Lights

_**A/N:** _I'm getting so many interested readers, but no feedback. Not too big a deal, but I will be grateful if I get a review or two. This is kind of revealing where in the world this story takes place in Teen Titans land, but it will not get touched upon too heavily in this, at least as far as I'm aware. If there is a sequel, there will be a lot of blatant revealing there. Enjoy everybody!

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4- Lights

The fireplace had come with their house, according to Vivio, and was rarely used. Yet before her eyes, the embers crackled, warm, a warmth that she loved. Rae had always liked warmth and heat and sunlight. She couldn't say why, but she did.

She did have to admit, though, watching the snowfall was beautiful.

Her large violet eyes lingered around the room. They had let her stay in this large living room, instead of go to a guest room. No questions were asked; nothing was commanded of her. It was… strange. She expected orders, solid foundations, _things_to do.

They didn't seem to expect anything of her.

It was confusing.

"Psst! Rae-chan!"

Vivio was crawling on the floor, grinning up from underneath a quilt wrapped like a robe. Anyone else could look imposing… but Vivio just looked silly. The girl made her way onto the other side of the sofa, crawling up to sit on the left arm of the sofa. "Hi!"

Rae-why was it suddenly so easy to think of herself like that?- nodded. "Aren't you… supposed to be sleeping?"

Vivio grinned. "I was, but then I woke up, and I figured you were lonely down here. So I thought I would sleep down here with you for a while, or you'd come up to my room." Rae blinked and Vivio hurried to add. "We could stay down here, though! Nanoha-mama rarely uses the fireplace because it's cleaner if we don't. Cleaner for the air."

Even when she whispered, Vivio was a very bright, bright person. It was strange but not quite as much as when she gave her a hug. Hugs were a little weird. Hugs in general weren't expected at home.

_In the dream, they were, just not from you._

She shook her head. That was a _dream_. This was real. It was real because she wasn't particularly good at imagining normal things. Rae could dream about heroics and unusual people and things that were different. She knew this was real because _magic _was normal.

Even in the dream, everyone was unique. And that was silly.

"Neh, Rae-chan!" Vivio popped very close to her face and in a moment of confusion, she wondered when the girl had gotten there. "Do you know any fairy tales?"

Rae blinked. (It was better to think of herself in this name while she still could, in case someone _was _looking for her.) "The woman who taught me said learning fairy tales was pointless because they were lies." _And violent. _Azar preached non-violence.

Vivio shook her head. "Mama read me some once. They were nice." She flopped down, landing straight in Rae's lap. The purple girl almost yelped. Really, why was Vivio so touchy? "Did you not want me to do that?"

"It… It… surprised me." Raven rubbed her eyes. This wasn't like her. She was supposed to be quiet, out-of-the-way, _not being touched_. She guessed Vivio broke rules a lot then. Vivio moved, probably to sit up, but Rae placed a tiny hand back. "No… um, don't-" She looked for a word, the right words, but none arrived. Vivio merely grinned and did as asked, whatever it was she was actually trying to ask.

For a while, they were both silent, Rae looking at the crackling flames out of the corner of her eyes and Vivio toying with the plush rabbit she had brought down with her.

Then Vivio spoke. "Do you want to be someone else, Rae-chan?"

Rae blinked. "Like who?"

She earned a shrug. "I dunno. A different you, one who's an adult and strong and stuff." Rae wanted to answer that with a yes,but… she didn't know. What _did _she want? "I do," Vivio added. "I...was weak before, and I cried a lot. I still cry a lot sometimes. But…" She clenched a small fist. "I want to get stronger and stronger, so my mamas don't have to save me all the time. Maybe…" The girl laughed. "Maybe I could save my mamas for once! That would be so cool!"

"Miss Nanoha… and Miss Fate… they're strong?"

Vivio nodded. "The strongest… right now." She winked. "You and me could beat them someday, though."

Rae shook her head reflexively. "I'm not supposed to fight like that."

Vivio frowned. "Why not?"

Rae wondered if Vivio would understand it, when she couldn't. "Because I will hurt people. I will get angry and scared and hurt people."

_You already have, haven't you?_

It was cold in there for some reason.

Vivio made a small noise and shook her head. "Whoever told you that was wrong. They had to be."

"How?" The prophecy would hurt people, she, the portal, would hurt people. It was a fact.

Vivio planted her bunny into Rae's hands. "You're in this new place and it's all scary and you aren't hurting me right now, are you?"

"I…" She planted two fingers to her head and took a deep breath. That made sense… but it didn't make sense.

Vivio giggled. "We should be sleeping instead of confusing."

"Ye...Yes…"

She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but when Rae woke, the sky was bright and she and Vivio were covered in a quilt, one child on top of the other.

Maybe this was a dream too.


	5. Fog

_**A/N:** _Hey guys, it's back! I got to sit down and look this over, and thank you for the support that flowed out from it. I know what I'm doing now, and where I'm going for a little while. Thanks to the guest reviewer who offered their points. I'm taking them more fully into consideration. I hope that this remains adorable and fun for all! Also, rc, I can't talk about that. Let me know what you think guys!

EDIT: Formatting fixed, sorry about that!

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5- Fog

"Have you ever lost control of your magic before?"

Another question in the midst of many.

Rae spun mentally with the inquiries and the energy she had been holding tight inside almost washed out of her and towards a piece of machinery. But, like a weird type of sponge, the magic sank into the walls and disappeared.

The woman smiled at her through long bangs. It was a harmless smile, she thought, harmless from a woman who didn't look to be all that harmless. She guessed nobody in this world was all that harmless because of all the magic everywhere, except maybe Vivio. And judging by how confusing she could be, maybe she was dangerous too.

Did it matter if Rae was a demon then?

Rae nodded to the question, trying to recall specific incidents that were particularly extreme. Or not extreme. Did it matter? She recalled breaking a room of fine china and magic artifacts when her mother had hugged her. "If I have extreme emotional outbursts, it happens a lot."

"Outbursts or just emotion?" The woman asked gently.

The air rippled about Rae as she flushed. She shouldn't be so transparent. "Emotion," she admitted.

The woman scribbled down and added."What did they ask you to do about it in the place you lived?"

"Not to feel,"she answered automatically, relaxing. This she could say. She knew the answers to these sorts of was better than the earlier ones, like: what do you do for fun, who is in your family. How to cope with your power, have you read enough, are you doing it right? She knew the answers to these questions. Don't feel, meditate it away, there's never enough reading, and obviusly not. Quick, succinct.

The woman nodded, and a small burst of orange left her skin. Rae reeled a moment then shoved it aside. She had expected it to be red. "Has it worked?"

Rae blinked and the energy began to itch at her palms again. "Worked?"

"You continue to have outbursts, yes?"

Oh. "Because I'm not doing it well."

"Is that so?" The voice remained gentle, but suddenly it grated on her. Yes, naturally. If they were her powers, it was her fault that she couldn't control them.

_But they aren't yours, _her mind whispered. _They belong to your father._

It didn't matter. They were still hers... oh darn it.

The air around her had begun to ripple, black waves slipping between the space in her fingers. Fear rose and she tried to quell it but the energy continued to slip out. She looked at the woman, who, besides a mild flare of grey, seemed unaffected. "I see," she said softly. "Well, I think I know what to do here."

Though her voice and expression didn't change, Rae found herself shying back. It was like Azar, so much like her. Warmer yes, and not angry, but still too much disapproval. She closed her eyes, took two deep breaths, and opened them again. "I'm sorry." The words were a reflex, no longer said out of guilt because feeling that put her as far back as feeling angry.

It was best not to feel at all, really.

"Yes, i do believe your original method of tackling this was inappropriate."

Rae almost bristled but she bit her tongue, the pain outweighing the fury.

The woman nodded. "It's all right, dear. We just need to do a few more tests later. I think I've found the problem. For today, we'll leave it at one last question: does your magic come from you, or from somewhere else?"

Raven thought about it, considered Vivio's reaction, and then gave the truth that she understood, which was little. There weren't books about this, because of course she _had to be different_, didn't she? The energy bubbled again, but this time she ignored it. "It's linked to my father."

The woman nodded. "So have you used your own magic before?"

_That's another question. _"My own?"

Another nod, accompanied by a brush of dark hair. "Your father's magic is what seems to be spiraling out of control, but what about yours? Surely you have your own?"

"My powers come from my father."

The woman's aura flickered orange and grey and Rae couldn't hold back the hiss. She was just telling the truth! What else could she say?

She caught herself too late, and the energy snapped from her grasp and lashed out, smashing into a piece of equipment. This time, the walls did not react and the machine took the blow, magic crashing inward and creating a hole in its center. Glass shattered and wires sparked. The woman waved her hand to create a small frost to quell it, but wasn't fast enough to stop Rae from darting out of the room, past a dozing Vivio with Nanoha and down the hallway. The magic bubbled and tried to flee her hands but she clenched them into fists.

_Have to contain it… release it somewhere… idiot!_

Rae wasn't even sure what she had broken, but it had to have been important, or it wouldn't have been in there.

She wasn't even sure where she was running to, just somewhere if she tore everything apart, it wouldn't be a person.

She hoped it wouldn't anyway.


	6. Frost

_**A/N:**_Hey guys! It's late, I'm updating, and hopefully providing a satisfying start to a resolution. The weird thing about Vivio is that she is kind of... flighty to me, so she's hard to have resolve things. It's fun though. Enjoy!

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6-Frost

Vivio had meant to be doing her homework during the doctor visit, but it was taking way too long and the work was pretty easy anyway. They were probably overdoing it with Rae-chan, making her all nervous and jumpy and confused. Nanoha-mama had warned her they might do that without thinking because doctors and nurses tended to be logical and patient but very focused. They would find what was wrong… not that Vivio thought anything was really wrong with Rae-chan… other than bad teachers.

Who taught kids to not read _fairy tales_? Or to hate magic?

Well, she wasn't sure Rae _hated _magic, persay, more like that she hated that she had it. That was complicated though. Why would you hate a part of yourself? Maybe other people had hated it and told her that she should hate it too, which was dumb. Why hate something that wasn't even your fault?

Or maybe, like she had thought before, Rae was just scared of herself.

Vivio wished she knew what it was like to be scared of herself, because then she would be able to help.

She would have to leave it to Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama instead, she supposed. Nanoha-mama had saved her, after all.

Raising Heart let out a chime. [Master!]

In the other room, something smashed and Rae went streaking out past them. Her hands were curled into fists inside her cloak, but she was still running like she had seen a ghost.

"Rae-chan!" she shouted but the girl didn't answer, footsteps fading as fast as they appeared. Vivio leaped from her seat, intent on going after her. But her mama's hand gently tugged her back. "Mama!" She almost fell back onto her bottom.

"Give her a few moments, Vivio. She probably worked herself up." Nanoha stroked her daughter's knuckles with the pad of her thumb, smiling ruefully. She sighed. "I'll talk to her first, okay? Then you can help."

"But… she'll think I'm scared of her," her daughter protested. Nanoha hummed.

"It's better than you scaring her and giving her a good reason to think that." Vivio gave a reluctant nod and waited for her mother. Nanoha-mama seemed very calm. Her mama was usually like that, not that Vivio had any reason to want her upset.

"Mama?"

"Hm?"

"Did Rae-chan do a bad thing?"

Nanoha paused for only a second. The Ace of Aces was not known for hesitation after all. "Mmhm. She broke the machine, by the sound of things." Seeing Vivio's miserable expression, she grinned. "I don't think she meant to though. You'd have done worse if you could."

Vivio pouted. Nanoha-mama was probably right, but still! She was learning how to fight so she _could_do worse but that wasn't the point. "Nanoha-mama…"

"Do you think you can help?"

She winced at the question. Her mama wasn't trying to be mean, but she was asking her to be honest. She was asking her to be honest. Could she help Rae-chan? She wasn't really sure about that but…

"_No...um, don't-"_

There were words under that, heaps of them that just didn't make sense and did at the same time. It was like feelings and words were trying to be understood at the same time and it was murky.

Vivio had no idea if she could really help at all, especially if neither of them knew how to say anything properly. She looked at her tiny, weak hands and clenched them.

"I want to try," she said.

Her mother smiled, that proud one she had gotten every time she had helped the housekeepers properly at Riot Force Six or got up from a fall with nothing more than a wince. Then she whirled her daughter around and placed Raising Heart in her hands. "Off you go then. Be careful. You still don't have the basics."

"Right!"

Vivio turned on her heel and ran, out towards the halls, the cold.

She wondered what they would do with Rae-chan. Would she go to the Academy with her? Into the military? Be adopted by a nice family? Would they try to send her home?

That would be sad if she went home. She seemed nice…

Well, she would just have to convince Rae to stay.

Vivio pulled her coat tighter as she made it out to the courtyard. There, the wind brushed at her, but she clenched her fingers tight in her pockets and ignored it. It was just wind and snow!

Raising Heart flashed from next to her ear and vivio followed the Device to peer behind a tree. Small pulses of magic riddled the air, and Vivio didn't need her Mama's smarts to guess what was happening. Did magic normally do that, just burst out with a will of its own?

Tapping her foot, Vivio searched for something, anything to say. She didn't want to look at Rae, mostly because she guessed Rae didn't want to lash out at her. She frowned, puzzled. Arf-san would know what to do here, she was Fate-mama's familiar after all. She brushed at Raising Heart's frame and looked around at the still-falling snow.

Then Vivio grinned in pure triumph. She had seen this in a movie once, so it had to work.

"Wanna build a snowman?"


End file.
